Forget Valley
by Angel Weasel-Woman
Summary: ForgetMeNot Valley – when one runs from their pasts and problems, they all end up here. But what kind of past has Gaara fled to lead him there? And just what will he find in his new life?
1. Plot 24A

A tall man of about twenty man stalked down the old, bricked road, a cool spring breeze ruffling his crimson hair and rising sun illuminating his body with a golden glow. Pausing by a large building with the word INN written on a banner over it's door, he glanced at the small piece of paper he held in his hand and narrowed light green eyes. With a frustrated snort, he shoved open the Inn's doors, a small bell tinkling softly at its movement, and stepped inside. Behind the main desk, a man with black hair jerked from his nap to full awareness and sat up quickly. 

"Welcome, traveler," the man said, smiling. "My name is Tim, can I help you with anything?"

The man walked up to the desk and held out the piece of paper. "Where am I and what is this?"

Tim took the paper with a confused blink and told the man, "This is Forget-Me-Not Valley." The other man snorted and Tim glanced at the piece of paper, reading the words silently.

_In honor of your acceptance to Forget Valley, you have received the land on plot 24A. Instructions and help will be given upon request._

_Romana_

Tim smiled and handed the paper back before pointing out at some point past the Inn walls.

"Plot 24A is the farm just across the –"

"Farm? I just arrived here and I have a farm?"

"Why, yes," Tim responded. "If Miss Romana has decided that you need this Valley, then you must belong here. Now, as I was saying, the farm is just across the street and up the hill – you can't miss it."

"… A farm? I have never been on a farm in my life – I don't know how to farm."

"Well, your acceptance papers mention something about instructions, so I'm sure it won't be too bad for you."

With a grimace, the man turned around and began to walk away, saying, "Just past those hills, right?"

"Yes – you can't miss it."

He stalked out of the Inn and trekked along the road once more, traveling up a path and onto a large plot of land. A small house was nearest the short path and beyond that was a tall, concrete building. Just across from the tall structure was a large, wide building with a wide, hardly fenced in field full of tall grass. Beyond those he saw a second small house, a cultivated square of land, a building a bit smaller than the house, another plot of land, a shack and a finally large plot of land where several long vines were sprouting.

Placing a hand behind his head, he momentarily fought the urge to make a face at the farm he was now tied to when, suddenly, a tall man emerged from the wide building connected to the field. Appearing to be around his mid-thirties, he had silver hair and an eye patch placed over his left eye. Dressed in a pair of blue jeans and long-sleeved black shirt with a dark blue bandanna covering his mouth and nose, he looked up with his visible eye to see the redheaded man blink at him.

"What are you doing here?" the older man asked, walking up to the other.

"I should ask you the same question – this is my property, apparently." Suddenly, his eyebrows knitted together in thought. Pointing at the man, he said, "Don't I know you?" The other man blinked. "Yeah! You're that scarecrow guy – Kakashi."

"And you're… the sand kid. Gaara."

Gaara paused for only a moment more before saying, "I remember when we were younger that you had at least half a brain. ("Gee, thanks," Kakashi muttered sarcastically.) Can you tell me where we are, and why, exactly, I have a farm?"

Kakashi sighed and folded his arms across his chest, saying, "This is Forget-Me-Not Valley. Nick named 'Forget Valley' – and with good reason. All those who wander away, running from their pasts all end up here, no matter where they try to go. And all those destined to stay here are given jobs and living quarters by Romana, the mayor here."

Gaara felt a shiver run up his spine and for a moment thought about what kind of past Kakashi attempted to escape before ending up in the valley. Instead of showing it, however, he merely snorted and said, "Destined to stay here? Just watch, I'll be gone in the morning."

"Don't sound so sure of yourself. I've been here for several years now – there is no escaping this valley."

Pushing Kakashi's cryptic words aside, Gaara looked up and asked, "What have you tried to escape?"

"Something incredibly stupid that I won't tell unless you tell me why you're here." At the redhead's silence, Kakashi continued with, "Have you ever worked on a farm before, or do I have to explain things to you?"

"I've never even seen a farm before now."

Kakashi grumbled a few curses under his breath before saying out loud, "Then I'll just have to give you the grand tour." He turned about to face the farm and pointed at the house nearest them. "That's where I live."

To the tall building. "Storage center. There's a ledger in it. If you want to buy or sell tools, animals, food, what have you, write it down and I'll go into town that day. Or you could do it yourself – no real matter to me."

The wide building. "That's the barn. You have a cow already in there. Her name is Sakura and she just gave birth ten days ago so you should be able to milk her about twice a day, now. Behind that is the obvious grass field that you can cut the grass down and turn into fodder which the barn animals will eat. Connected to the barn is the tool shed. I left the major tools in there, so that should help."

The second house. "That's where you'll live. There's some bread and milk in the fridge in there so that you won't starve while the tomatoes are still growing. Not to mention there are wild roots everywhere that you can eat."

The smaller building. "That's a chicken coop. Want chickens? You know how to get them."

The shack. "I still have no idea what that is. It's been locked since I've gotten here and it refuses to open under anything."

Finally he motioned to the cultivated plots of land. "And those spots are where you grow things. First you have to till the ground, plant the seeds, and then water the seeds and plants twice every day. I already have the tomatoes growing in the largest field and hey should be ripe in a few days." He looked back to Gaara. "Any questions?"

"That was…" Gaara searched for a fitting word. "Craptacular." He fixed the older man with a dull stare and a quirked eyebrow. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Hey, shut-up. I just had to go through with selling an utterly useless animal to a complete out-of-towner idiot. I deserve to have a crap day. Now, if you will, you need to go and water the tomatoes." And with that Kakashi began to walk away, presumably to go into town, when Gaara coughed uncertainly, catching his attention once more. "Yes?"

"Like I said before – I have no idea how to farm. It's sheer luck that I even know what a farm is. And, well…"

Kakashi sighed. "And you need help?"

Gaara pursed his lips together and glanced away.

"Fine. Let's go to the tool shed and I'll get you started with the basics…"

* * *

Wootwoot! It's getting written. And fear not, people who read this! It will be completed.

Itachi: Like all your other fics "will be completed"?

Angel: Yes, exactly like – hey, screw you! This one actually has a plot!

All except Angel: -gasp-

Angel: -can't breathe for a moment- Anyway, in case you're wondering, yes this is a cross over with Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. Gah, I hate that game! Keeping me up until 3-4 am, just playing it. It really sucks. Bah. At least my months of stalking finally paid off. And in case y'all are wondering about other characters showing up in this… I dunno, I might if I can figure out who and how. -sigh; point- Naruto! You haven't said anything in a while! Do the disclaimer.

Naruto: -grumblegrumble- Angel doesn't own Naruto or Harvest Moon.

Angel: Excellent. And, so, till next time!


	2. Weasels and Foxes

Gaara opened his eyes, twitching at the vast amount of sunlight that trailed in from his window directly onto his bed. He threw himself onto his other side and groaned, feeling the rough cloth rubbing against his body and reminding him to buy new sheets eventually.

A bird flew into the tree just outside his window and began to chirp merrily, only further serving to piss him off. He reached down, hand flopping about to find something big and hard to chuck. His fingertips brushed up against something fitting his description and, without a pause, he threw whatever-it-was over his shoulder and into the tree. A smirk graces his features at the loud "_wark_" and the following, blessed silence until he realized…

God damnit that was his shoe. Now he _had_ to get up.

He groaned and swung his legs out from the bed, shivering at the cold early spring air brushing up against his bare legs. Wobbling a bit on sleepy limbs, he glanced down at the pile of brown and black clothing he had thrown on the floor before slipping into bed. They would be so full of sand and grit and would be a terrible annoyance to wear now that he had some place to settle down in for a while. But he hadn't thought to grab any clothes before he was…

He shook his head fiercely. He wasn't going to think about that anymore.

Ignoring the fact that his feet were starting to go numb from constant contact with the cold floor, he made his way over to the closet.

* * *

Sakura looked up sleepily, blinking her watery black eyes as the door to the barn swung open. She chewed at the air for a moment as she watched the new guy approach her. He was dressed in a pair of stupid looking denim overalls with a black stain across the chest and a large rip in the left knee. A long-sleeved red shirt covered his chest, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Black boots clomped on the ground, swirling up dust and small flakes of dead grass. In his gloved hands, he held a bucket and a small stool and on his face was a really confused look. 

He looked at her for a moment, contemplating, before walking over and setting down the objects he held. He looked so adorably lost, that Sakura nudged his shoulder and snorted at him. He gave her an odd look, and muttered something to himself before setting the stool down and sitting on it. There was a moment's pause before a leathery hand was placed on her udder.

"This had better be the right thing, or so help me I will kill that perverted bastard," he grumbled and Sakura vaguely wondered who he was talking about. Probably that guy that kept giggling every time he milked her. She would have contemplated on whether or not to ponder this further, but there was a tug and…

Ahhh...

She mooed loudly in content, causing the new guy to jump slightly, and give her a funny look. But that didn't matter – she loved being milked probably as much as he loved doing whatever it was he did (not that she really cared what he did, but that man's giggling had perked her interest slightly). She began to chew at the air again, making a little humming noise in the back of her throat as he continued, finishing all too soon for her liking.

He stood and picked up the bucket, now sloshing over with her milk at his sudden movements and walked around to look her in the eyes. There was a bit of an awkward silence before he quickly patted her on the top of the head and left. She tilted her head, slightly, mooing and chewing at the air when she realized he wouldn't be back any time soon.

Gaara hefted the bucket of milk onto his kitchen counter, staring it down like it would reveal all the secrets of the world to him. What had that scarecrow told him to do with it now…? He blinked and quickly reached under the sink to pull out three tin bottles and what he had been told was a "milk strainer" (in his opinion it like a pair of his sister's pantyhose). Figuring he would be the only one to drink the stuff and therefore the only one to suffer, he placed the strainer over the bottle and poured the milk over it, being as careful as he could not to splash it everywhere. Filling two of the bottles and only about a fourth of the third, he put the bucket and the strainer in the sink to wash later and snagged the bottles to drag them out to the storage center where he had seen a refrigeration unit the other day when the scarecrow had shown him how to use the ledger.

Storing the bottles away in the chilly metal box, Gaara watched the entire area out of the corner of his eye, noting how tiny details had been changed from the previous day. Like how the ledger had been turned about eight degrees to the right, the pages flipped and slightly torn at the edges. An odd scent wafted across his sensitized nose, and he noticed what looked like muddy prints were tracked on the floor.

The door opened and after a short pause, he heard the scarecrow say, "… You wouldn't be wrong in investing in a watchdog."

"You didn't do this?" Gaara asked skeptically.

"I leave this place as I find it. And I sure as hell have no idea where the mud came from – it hasn't rained in about four days."

Gaara nodded to himself, vaguely hearing himself say, "I'll do that…"

Kakashi nodded and quickly stepped over to check the icebox and the ledger to see if there were any outgoing crops, dairy products, or animals. Finding nothing of the sort, he began to walk away, pausing long enough to say, "You should go and meet some of the people here. You could be here for a while yet and it wouldn't do well to be some kind of hermit farmer who only gives advice to wary travelers on the full moon."

Gaara gave the vacant space where Kakshi had been a confused look, wondering just what was wrong with the scarecrow's brain, before shaking his head sadly and leaving the storage center himself.

" _Kissy kissy makes me happy, honey, honey, sweet as candy _

_Kissy kissy take my hand, and come along with me _

_Kissy kissy makes me happy, honey, honey, sweet as candy _

_Kissy kissy love is grand with you, my sugar bee._ "

The redhead blinked, the soft notes of a cappella drifting across his ears from… below him? He glanced about himself, peering over the edge of his property to see what looked like a pair of cat ears bouncing down the street. Frowning at this odd discovery, he maneuvered around his farm until he stood at the base of what he had deemed the "entrance hill" to get a good look at this bouncing, singing creature.

The first things he noticed were the soft red cat ears and the short, puffy red weasel tail attached to her otherwise human body. He also saw how her long-ish hair, half a soft auburn and the rest a deep black, was pulled into a loose bun at the back of her head, leaving a few wispy strands free and two long locks on either side of her head to cover where human ears should have been. Her eyes were currently closed in her joyous singing, a pair of thin-framed glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. She simply wore a deep green shit and a pair of dark blue jeans, torn halfway down her calves to reveal brown boots. And strangely, to him at least, she clutched a wicker basket to her chest, one arm draped loosely over the top in a discreet effort to keep the lid on.

" _See the moon, and see the sun, shining down on everyone _

_They know how in love we are, I heard them tell it to a star _

_There's no mountain, there's no sea, to keep your love away from me _

_No matter what the distance is, you're still my favorite kiss. _"

"Hey, you!" Gaara called before she could start up the next verse. She stopped in the middle of a twirl with her back to him, so she peered over her shoulder with soft, questioning chocolate eyes. "What are you?"

The confusion in those eyes was quickly replaced with annoyance as the woman said crossly, "Nice to meet you, too, jerk." She turned around the rest of the way and swayed her hips out slightly. "Can I ask who you are, or should I say "what" too?"

Gaara's non-existent eyebrow ticked, and he said, "That doesn't answer me."

"What are you, a _kitsune_?" she asked, still refusing to comply. "Sin of regret going to kill ya?" Without waiting for a response, nor seeing the flash of bemusement in his eyes, she continued. "My name is Angel and I live over there (she gestured to the farm across the bridge he has passed the other day with the hand holding the basket) with my sister. What about you? We don't exactly get tourists, and I haven't seen you around here, so..."

"My name is S-… Gaara. I arrived late yesterday." The basket in Angel's arms twitched and a small white paw peeked out before the woman could tighten her grip and he looked oddly at her. "What's in there?"

Her eyes narrowed and she took a step back, clutching the container protectively. "You keep your nose where it belongs before I bit it off. You're a farmer – I can tell. You'd kill him."

With the skill of his ninja past, Angel was suddenly left holding onto a large rock and Gaara opened the basket to see a pair of deep blue eyes peering up at him from within a bundle of soft white and rust red fur. "A fox?"

Angel looked confusedly at the rock in her arms before dropping it and turning a glare on the redhead. "You give him back. I won't let you kill a baby!"

The creature yipped and reached out of the basket in an attempt to gnaw at his wrist with sharp little milk teeth before Gaara grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and holding it up. His eyes softened slightly, and he asked, "Why would I kill a fox?"

"What kind of dip-shit farmer are you?" There went the softness in his eyes. "Foxes eat chickens. I'm sure you'll get a few if you don't already."

"Then maybe I don't want chickens. And what were you going to do with it anyway, _farmer_?" He smirked at her flushed expression as she flustered about, trying to explain herself to a stranger.

"I was going to raise it. Train it not to eat chickens. Now you give him back!"

Gaara shifted the creature so that it now rested in the crook of his elbow. It tried to bit him again, but only got a mouthful of red cloth and a scratching behind the ears. "I think I'd rather keep him. I need a watchdog, anyway."

Angel growled deep in her throat, and her eyes flicked between him and the fox kit, now with an expression of bliss on it's face. Finally, she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine. Keep him. But I warn you – I'll be sure to check in on him every day and if I find out you killed him or hurt him in any way, I'll be sure to whip your ass so bad, this place will _let_ you go, you hear me?"

Gaara smirked and began to walk away, merely raising one hand in acknowledgement.

That girl sure was cute when she was all huffy-mad.

* * *

Hey, cool. This came out longer than I expected it to 

Nine: And kept you up later than you expected it to.

Angel: I know. I mean, I knew Harvest Moon would keep me up, till, like, four again, but this thing… I just wanted to finish it ;; And also, in case anyone wants to get on my case, I've only milked a cow once in my life, and that was at a county fair thing so if anything it wrong about it, don't complain.

And speaking of cows, I was originally going to have Sakura hate Gaara, but after hearing him _henge_ into a cow on Oh! Naruto Nippon, I decided to be nice and have her be sweet. And since I'm done rambling and need to get back to my game, Itachi can say the disclaimer.

Itachi: Angel doesn't own Naruto, Harvest Moon, or the song Kissy Kissy. She's just obsessed with all three.

Angel: Yosh! And so, till next time!


End file.
